Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Normally, an applicant has to have been on these payments long term. He or she would normally have to have been on jobseeker's allowance before qualifying for the Christmas bonus. Because of the situation we find ourselves in this year with Covid-19, we have decided that we will pay the Christmas bonus for anybody who has been on the PUP or whatever payment for four months. It is not just four months before the bonus is due to be paid but rather a total of four months since the PUP was introduced last March. If someone has been on the pandemic unemployment payment, jobseeker's allowance or any of those benefits for a total of four months, he or she will get it this year. We are paying many more people the Christmas bonus this year than we normally would.